LEBANON, Pa. — From skiing and snowboarding to tubing down the slopes, winter recreation is a staple for many Pennsylvanians this time of the year.
However, the availability of snow and colder temperatures to partake in these activities is becoming harder to find.
For Iron Valley Tubing in Lebanon County, the weather this winter has been less than ideal for snow making.
Brooke Maurer, marketing coordinator with Byler Holdings, says that temperatures need to be cold enough for the ground to freeze before they’re able to make snow. Once the ground is frozen, they need specific conditions to make the snow too.
“We need typically 120 hours of ideal snowmaking weather, which is below freezing and it has to be dry out,” said Maurer.
This is something she says they prefer to do in December. This year, they’re hoping they can do it at all.
“We like to start blowing snow in December. Ideally, we’d love to be open for Christmas break because that would bring in a lot of local kids who are off school, and it will give them something to do so they’re not at home pestering their parents,” she told FOX43. “But if that’s not an option, we would like to be open for even some of the other winter holidays like Martin Luther King, President’s Day, which are all coming up, and it’s not looking good.”
Winter in Central Pennsylvania is getting warmer. In fact, our average winter temperature has increased over 3 degrees since 1970, according to Climate Central.
Even our winter cold snaps are fewer and farther between. A study by the same organization found that cold snaps are nearly five days shorter than they used to be, causing problems for places like Iron Valley Tubing.
“When we get the shorter cold snaps, it doesn’t give us enough time to have the ground frozen, first of all,” said Maurer. "And then even if the ground does get to freeze, we still need longer cold snaps to make the snow, so it’s just not ideal."
The slopes were able to open in December last season, but they still struggled to stay open due to swings in temperature. In order to cope, staff would push snow to the center of the hill, forming less lanes but staying open as long as possible.
Maurer says they keep a close eye on the forecast and are making snow when they can. She’s hopeful they can get enough cold to open later on this season.
“We are a little bit nervous, but we’re keeping our hopes up. We’d like to see it open maybe for February.”
You can find the latest updates for Iron Valley Tubing on their website.